Apparently, when preparing to play the late royal, she went to a psychic to seek consult, reports The Guardian. Actually, to be more exact, she went to a psychic to get Princess Margaret’s permission, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 71.

She relayed what she was told by Princess Margaret through the medium: “She said, apparently, she was glad it was me. My main thing when you play someone who is real, you kind of want their blessing because you have a responsibility.”

Some may have stopped at the compliment, but Bonham Carter had a question for Princess Margaret: “So I asked her: ‘Are you OK with me playing you?’ and she said: ‘You’re better than the other actress’…that they were thinking of. They will not admit who it was. It was me and somebody else.”

Bonham Carter didn’t confirm whether she believed this to really be Princess Margaret’s words, but she did go on to say, “That is a classic Margaret thing to say. She was really good at complimenting you and putting you down at the same time.”

And who is the other actress?? Oh, we’ll need more than a psychic to learn that…

It didn’t stop there, Margaret had some tips for the actress, with Bonham Carter concluding, “‘Then she said: ‘But you’re going to have to brush up and be more groomed and neater.’ Then she said: ‘Get the smoking right. I smoked in a very particular way. Remember that — this is a big note — the cigarette holder was as much a weapon for expression as it was for smoking.'”

Oooh… that’s pretty specific.

You can look for Bonham Carter in season three of The Crown on November 14.